MV Pasha Bulker

2007

Newcastle beach, 76,000 tonnes grounded in public Location: Nobbys Beach, Newcastle, NSW, Australia · Coordinates: 32.93°S 151.77°E · Casualties: 0 · Survivors: 22 · Depth: 3 m (beached) · Cause: grounding — Ran aground on Nobbys Beach, Newcastle, on the morning of 8 June 2007 after she chose not to ballast down and leave the harbour anchorage as a severe east coast low approached. Refloated three weeks later. · Fate: refloated 1 July 2007 · scrapped 2018 · Type: bulk carrier · Panamax class · Tonnage: 40,042 GRT · Crew: 22 · Flag: Panama · Launched: 2006 Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier, at anchor off Newcastle with eight other bulkers awaiting coal loading berths. Ignored warnings of an approaching east coast low and was driven ashore on the morning of 8 June 2007 within thirty metres of the city's main beach in front of live television. Salvage took three weeks and a cyclone-scale operation. The event gave Australian common usage the phrase 'to do a Pasha Bulker' for spectacular public failure. The Vessel The MV Pasha Bulker was a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier, built at the Oshima Shipbuilding yard at Saikai, Japan in 2006 and commissioned on 19 December 2006. She was 225 metres long, 76,741 deadweight tons, and powered by a MAN-B&W diesel engine producing approximately 12,000 horsepower. Her specific design was a Panamax-class bulk carrier: the largest vessel size capable of transiting the Panama Canal under the pre-2016 lock dimensions. She was owned by the Japanese Lauritzen Bulkers shipping company and was operated on the standard Panamax bulk-carrier circuit: iron ore, coal, and grain cargoes between the major bulk-commodity export and import ports of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Her specific operational pattern in early 2007 was Australian coal exports from Newcastle, New South Wales, to Asian destinations. Her master on her final voyage was Captain Amarbeer Singh Mahay, 44, a career Indian merchant marine officer. Her complement on 8 June 2007 was 22 officers and crew, predominantly Indian and Filipino merchant marine personnel typical of the internationalised Panamax bulk-carrier fleet. The Disaster By approximately 09:45 on 8 June 2007, Pasha Bulker's anchor had begun to drag under the extreme wind and wave conditions. The specific ship's response was to attempt engine-assisted holding: the main engine was started and thrust was applied to relieve pressure on the anchor system. However, the specific conditions were exceeding the ship's capability; the specific combination of extreme wind, the shallow-water anchor position, and the specific drag rate produced progressive drift toward the Newcastle coast. Over the subsequent 90 minutes, Pasha Bulker drifted approximately 2 kilometres toward the coast despite continuous engine thrust. Captain Mahay's attempts to lift the anchor and put to sea were complicated by the extreme conditions; the ship's manoeuvring capability in the force 12 conditions was substantially compromised. At approximately 11:15 on 8 June 2007, MV Pasha Bulker grounded on Nobbys Beach at Newcastle, New South Wales. The grounding was at approximately 4 knots speed on a gradual sandy beach; the specific nature of the beach prevented immediate structural destruction but embedded the ship firmly in the sand. The ship's grounding was remarkable for two specific reasons: (i) the ship was substantially undamaged (her hull had not been penetrated by the grounding); and (ii) the ship had come to rest in an extraordinarily public location — Nobbys Beach is one of the most-visited beaches in the city of Newcastle, with the grounded ship visible from much of the ci